I love welcoming back creators who have been here before – and today’s featured cover is from a very prolific author, the lovely Ana Siqueira who stopped by to chat with us about the book!
ME: Welcome, Ana! We are so happy you stopped by on your COVER REVEAL day! And thank you for offering a fabulous giveaway!!! One lucky winner is going to receive their choice of a PB CRITIQUE or a 30-minute Ask-Me-Anything Chat. That is so generous of you!!!
Could you tell us a little bit about the book and the inspiration behind it?
ANA: Hello Vivian! It’s lovely to be here. And of course…doesn’t every author love to chat about their book!!! Here’s a little info:
Vera La Valiente is Scared
Written by Ana Siqueira
Illustrated by Teresa Martinez
Launching from Beaming Books in August 2025
And here’s the inspiriation for it:
Vera La Valiente is Scared was inspired by a match between my son and my sister.
My son Joao Felipe was scared of roller coasters. And even though he suffered some peer pressure (and family pressure), he was always brave to say “No, I don’t like roller coasters.” Now, I see he was really brave to do so.
Also, Vera is my big sister. I always saw her as this brave girl and I thought she could face everything, even roaches, without trembling. But of course, just like all of us, she has her fears. I believe a lot of pressure was placed on her to be strong and brave all of the time. So this book shows that it is okay to have fears. And to show your fears is an act of bravery.
ME: Oh, that’s such an important issue to write about, Ana. And I love that this is really a ‘family’ story. I know kids will definitely relate to it!
How about challenges or humorous moments on the path to publication…can you share any of those?
ANA: As I’m sure there are with every book, there were challenges.
This story, like many others, took a while to create shape. I tried many different versions, including one where Vera helped another girl who was scared of water rides. But with the help of my critique partners, I was able to shape it in a way that I believe it’s funny and heartfelt, without being didactic.
ME: Can you give us a little summary of the story?
ANA: Sure…I’d be happy to.
VERA LA VALIENTE IS SCARD is a hilarious story about what it really means to be brave.
Meet Vera the Brave–La Valiente! She dives like a dolphin, climbs like a mountain goat, and defends her amigos like un león. But she trembles when she hears her teacher say, “We’re going to Rocking Roller Coasters!” Oh no! Vera tries to convince the teacher her plan is not the best, but Ms. Rodríguez does not change her mind about the field trip. Now if Vera can’t face her fears, everyone will discover she’s not that brave after all! But what if being brave is much more than she expected?
Vera La Valiente Is Scared redefines what it means to be brave. It’s okay to show your feelings and fears! And maybe, with some help, you can even face some of them.
ME: Thank you so much, Ana. And now folks, here’s what you’ve been waiting for…
WOW! I think Teresa Martinez has done a fabulous job, engaging the child reader with a cover that POPS off the page! I love the strong reds! And Vera’s brave yellow shirt!
And here’s an inside spread…look how the main character grabs our attention because she’s dressed colorfully – and the rest of the page is muted.
Dear friends, we know that books don’t become a success without our help.
Here is some info for pre-ordering:
Pre-Order
Signed Copies at Tombolo Books
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Bookshop.org
Beaming Books
And here’s some info about Ana:
Ana Siqueira is a Spanish-language teacher and an award-winning children’s book author based in Tampa, Florida. Her books include Bella’s Recipe for Success (Beaming Books 2021), If Your Babysitter is a Bruja (S&S 2022), Abuela’s Super Capa/ La Supercapa de Abuela (HarperCollins 2023), Our World Brazil (Barefoot Books 2023), Boitata: the Fire Snake (Capstone 2023), La Mala Suerte is Following Me (Charlesbridge 2024), Vera la Valiente is Scared (Beaming Books 2025), Mami’s Heart (HarperCollins 2026) among others. She also has a chapter book series coming soon. It’s titled Carolina and the Creepy Creature Catchers. Ana co-founded Latinxpitch, a pitch event to promote Latin authors and illustrators.
She lives in Tampa Bay with her husband and loves to play with her Cuban-Brazilian-American grandkids.
And remember in the beginning of the post, I mentioned that Ana is prolific…take a look at some of her books:
To connect with Ana:
Social Media
@asiqueira.bsky.social
And here’s a little bit about the fabulous illustrator:
Teresa Martinez is a Mexican illustrator based in Puerto Vallarta. She’s the illustrator for dozens of picture books including Duck, Duck, Taco Truck, written by Laura Lavoie, Playing at the Border: A Story of Yo-Yo Ma, written by Johanna Ho, and The Last Tamale, written by Orlando Mendiola, among many others. You can see her amazing portfolio and learn more about her: https://astound.us/teresa-martinez
I hope you all have a wonderful week! And I hope you are also spreading the word about #50PreciousWords which will happen right here on the blog on March 2 and March 3.
Also, World Read-Aloud Day is Wednesday, February 5…if you are an author, are you reading to a class? If you are a teacher, have you connected with an author so that your students will have a free author visit that day? I’ll be reading ONE GIRL’S VOICE with the 4th graders at P.S. 97 in the Bronx. I’ll tell them that they are the FIRST kids to hear the story because the book doesn’t launch until February.
And don’t forget to leave a comment to be entered into the giveaway…Ana is asking that you put a number from 1 to 1000 in your comment…and Ana will choose the winner…if you can read minds, maybe you’ll guess the number Ana is thinking of.
VIVIAN KIRKFIELD - Writer for Children 